DPP denies alleged bribery by Chen Yu-hao

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday denied that President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) family members or any members of the Chen administration had taken bribes from Tuntex Group's (東帝士集團) former chairman Chen Yu-hao (陳由豪), who pubished an ad in a Chinese-language evening paper reiterating his previous allegations.

"Coming just 19 days before election day, it is clear that Chen Yu-hao's action is a trick with which he is hoping to dominate the last phase of the presidential campaign," said Presidential Office spokesman James Huang (黃志芳) yesterday.

"President Chen frankly discussed the relationship between himself and Chen Yu-hao during a televised interview last month, and therefore the Presidential Office will not respond further to the groundless allegations," Huang said.

"Moreover, we urge Chen Yu-hao to immediately return to Taiwan to state his case in front of the judiciary, instead of hiding in the shadows and trying to tarnish others' reputations through the media and ads," he said.

On Feb. 2, Chen Yu-hao -- who is listed as one of Taiwan's top 10 most-wanted criminals over his alleged embezzlement -- released "three public letters to President Chen," which said that he had provided political donations to the president and was even asked to pay money to Chen's aides.

At the time, the DPP asserted that Chen Yu-hao was just a tool being manipulated by the pan-blue alliance to assist Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan's (連戰) election campaign.

Taiwan Financial Assets Services Corp (TFASC, 台灣金服) held an auction to sell off parts of the Tuntex Group, including shares of Tuntex Petrochemicals Inc (東展興業). The controversial auction finally attracted only one bidder, liquidating NT$51 million of the equities' total estimated value of NT$3.3 billion.

President Chen Shui-bian and campaign headquarters spokesman Wu Nai-jen (吳乃仁) both made an announcement on Sunday night that since the "1 million people hand-in-hand" rally had successfully boosted the DPP's support, the pan-blue camp decided to adopt a negative-campaign offensive.

A local newspaper yesterday ran a two-page interview with Chen Yu-hao, in which he said that political donations the DPP and Chen had received from his company were much more than the party and the first family admitted.

He also said that he had given a NT$10 million bribe to DPP Deputy Secretary-General Chen Che-nan (陳哲男) in 2001 as well as NT$1 million to Chang Ching-sen (張景森), the vice chairman of the Cabinet's Council for Economic Planning and Development.

The aide said he would speak to the tycoon's banks to try to buy him more time to pay off loans, Chen Yu-hao told the reporter from his home in San Francisco. He said he did not know where the money ended up.

Chen Yu-hao claimed that he was once accompanied by a DPP elder to personally hand over a donation of NT$3 million to the president's wife Wu Shu-chen (吳淑珍) at the president's private residence in Taipei.

James Huang read a statement during yesterday's press conference that the first lady neither met with Chen Yu-hao in private nor received any cash or checks from this businessman.

Chen Che-nan and Chang Ching-sen both said yesterday that Chen Yu-hao's allegation was merely a campaign trick.

"Chen's remarks were proven to be groundless last month," Chen Che-nan told the media yesterday morning. "The reason why he continues to tarnish us is obviously to influence the presidential election."

Last month, the DPP said that Chen Yu-hao did give NT$10 million in campaign funds during the 2000 presidential race, while the KMT also admitted accepting NT$100 million from the fugitive.